1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wink release camera to perform shutter release by detection of a wink by the photographer and, more particular, to an improved wink release camera which operates in a wink release mode only when a high level of vibrations are occurring during photography.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wink release cameras operate the camera's shutter release based on the detection of a "wink" by a photographer, thereby avoiding vibration or hand tremors which can result from the manual pressing of a shutter release button. A wink release camera which uses an infrared mechanism to detect a wink is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 5-40303. A faint infrared light is radiated towards the photographer's eye. The infrared light is reflected off the photographer's eye and received by a detection sensor. A wink can be detected by an analysis of the received, reflected light. The shutter release then can operated based on the detection of the wink.
However, erroneous detection of a wink can occur from dust or other particles passing the detection region of the detection sensor. In addition, a person that frequently blinks may unintentionally cause the shutter release to be operated, thereby taking an unintended photograph. Also, an unintentional shutter release operation can be caused by inadvertent closure of the photographer's eye. Such inadvertent closure occurs often when the surrounding ambient light is very bright, when dust enters the photographer's eye, or when wind hits the photographer.